


Control

by ExtraPenguin



Category: Imperial Radch Series - Ann Leckie
Genre: Angst, Gen, Happy Ending, Introspection, Yuletide
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-12-24
Updated: 2015-12-24
Packaged: 2018-05-07 10:08:11
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 449
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5452790
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ExtraPenguin/pseuds/ExtraPenguin
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Tisarwat feels lost after being left in charge of the household.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Control

**Author's Note:**

  * For [kerithwyn](https://archiveofourown.org/users/kerithwyn/gifts).



Tisarwat had no idea what to do. Dlique was dead, the Fleet Captain was downwell by now, and she'd been left in charge of the household while she was gone.

_Anaander Mianaai would know what to do. She'd go and confidently order the Bos outside to do her bidding, which would be-_

She sat down and placed her head in her hands. She blinked back hot tears from her violet eyes. Who was she?

Before the incident, she'd been Lieutenant Tisarwat, a carefree soul who'd changed her eyes to something exotic. Had she still had the implants in her, she'd clearly have been Anaander Mianaai. Now?

Well, _abject failure_ was a nice starting place, probably.  Accurate, too.

B o Five walked over  noisily and cleared her throat. Tisarwat did her best at trying to look composed.

“A plant has been left for you, sir. What would like for us to do with it?” she asked.

“Bring it here,” Tisarwat said. She could watch it die. A pathetic, useless creature.

Bo Five dragged in a small tree in a pot. She left Tisarwat alone with it.

The plant was only  a few tens of centimeters tall, barely a sapling. There was a letter atop the weeds at the base. Tisarwat opened the folded paper.

_Lieutenant Tisarwat_ , it read.  _You appear to have taken an interest in me. I do not know what to do with it, so I decided to send you a Mairikhi sapling for bonsai. This is not a test of any kind: plants make me happier, and I wanted to spread that happiness._

_Horticulturist Basnaaid_

Tisarwat sat with a huff. She discarded the letter and stared at the plant. It was a small, green thing, with narrow leaves. Had it been capable of it, it probably woud've stared back. Another responsibility Tisarwat had no idea what to do with. She bowed her head. She was tired – of life, the universe, the Fleet Captain, everything.

She crawled over to the plant. She felt a pang of sympathy for the thing – there it was, torn from the soil it had grown in, abandoned to die, weeds at its base.

_Weeds._

Tisarwat grasped a weed and pulled.  It resisted. She dug her fingers into the soil, grasped the weed's roots, and pulled. It came out suddenly.

Tisarwat felt a pull in her cheeks.

She grasped another weed. It came out with much less effort, but it left a bit of root behind, and Tisarwat wanted for the weed to be  _gone_ -

She ordered Bo Five to set up a meeting with Piat.

If the Universe tried to influence Tisarwat, it was only fair that Tisarwat influenced the Universe back, no?


End file.
